1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for crushing multi cavity medication cards, and also includes interchangeable means whereby medication contained within the card may also be crushed, or may be expelled from the card without damage for subsequent use or destruction. The invention is characterized by its construction including a reciprocating platen to which one of a variety of crusher plates may be attached. The particular crusher plate is chosen to correspond to the configuration of the multi cavity medication card to be crushed. The card crusher is further characterized by its construction to comprise means for utilization of one of a plurality of card support plates upon which the medication card to be crushed is placed. One such plate is solid so that when the device is actuated to crush the card, it will also destroy any medication contained within each of the cavities. Another variety of card support plate includes apertures formed therethrough. This second construction comprising an apertured support plate is provided in a variety of aperture configurations corresponding to the cavity configurations on the card to be crushed. When a medication card is placed on the apertured support plate and the device of this invention is operated, crushing of the card results in expulsion of any medication contained within each cavity through the bottom of the card and through the apertures of the plate. A medication receptacle is provided to catch the medication as it is expelled from the crushed card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Within the medical service profession, if often occurs that a particular patient is to receive a unit dose of medication at regularly occurring intervals such as, for example, once a day. Both for purposes of insuring that medication is properly administered and taken, as well as for maintaining effective cost control, it is quite common to administer such regularly repeating doses of medication by packaging the medication in multi cavity blister cards containing individually sealed doses for a week, a month, or even longer. Such cards are commonly referred to within the profession as multi cavity cards or "bingo cards."
While numerous devices are known in the prior art for preparing, filling and sealing multi cavity medication cards, it often becomes necessary to destroy a card before all its medication has been administered. Destruction of the card and any medication contained therein is often required because the medications are controlled substances which may not be merely placed in the trash. In other circumstances, it is sometimes desirable to remove unused medication without damaging it for subsequent use in another card, or for subsequent control or destruction. Heretofore, the only significant means for removing medication in filled and sealed multi cavity cards was for an individual manually to punch each pill or tablet from its cavity. Not only is such a procedure extremely inefficient from the point of view of time utilization, but also such a procedure would clearly be subject to abuse.
While it certainly could not be denied that at a manufacturing level large, automated means for rupturing filled and sealed multi cavity medication cards are most surely available, the vast majority of such cards are used in hospitals or nursing homes. It is therefore clear that there is a great need in the art for a simple, yet efficient and safe means for crushing filled multi cavity medication cards so as to destroy the medication contained therein, or, alternatively, so as to remove the medication therefrom. Considering that such a device would quite frequently be utilized in medium and small nursing homes, a reliable yet relatively inexpensive apparatus is desired. Furthermore, because the size and configuration of the cavities on such medication cards vary, a truly efficient card crusher should include means for adapting its use to the wide variety of medication card configurations.